Typewriter



Jan. 1, 1935. BATES 1,986,244

TYPEWRITER Filegl Dec. 15, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORNEY #4 RV 5 4755 WKQ Jan. 1, 1935. BATES I 1,986,244

TYPEWRITER Filed Dec. 15, 1935 s She ets-She et 5 @co o 000 0 @00 @0000 9 0 000 000 0 I l I l I I INVENTOR HARP) 547215 ATTORN EY Patented Jan. 1, 1935 1,986,244 mnwm'mn Harry Bates, New York, N.- Y., assignor to Bates Laboratories, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application December 15, 1933, Serial N... 702,511 7 Claims. (01. 197-45) UNITED STATES PATENT oFFics This invention relates to typewriters in general. Among the objects of the present invention, it is aimed to' provide an improved educational or practice typewriter suitable for use as a toy to familiarize the child and to educate the uninitiated with a universal key board equipped type-' It is still another object of the present inven-' tion to provide an improved universal key board equipped typewriter which can be manufactured at low cost and the key board of,which can with facility be replaced by a different language key board, a node type selecting key board, a de-code type selecting key board, a raised type equipped key board adapted for use by the blind or persons afflicted with poor sight and the like.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide an improved typewriter in which the type carrying mechanism can with facility be replaced bya different language, code, de-code and the like type carrying mechanism.

It is still another object of the. present invention to provide an improved typewriter which can be manufactured at a comparatively low cost and in which the type carrying mechanism as well as the type selecting key indicating mechanism can with facility be replaced by different language, code, de-code and the like type carrying and type selecting key indicating mechanisms.

These and other features, capabilities and ad-.- vantages of the invention will appear'from the subjoined detaildescription of specific embodiments thereof illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a plan view of one embodiment of the present invention;

I Fig. 2 is an end elevation on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmental rear elevation showing the escapement for the platen;

Fig. 4 is a fragmental end elevation n the line 44 of Fig. 1';

Fig. 7 is a fragmental plan of the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 6; g

Fig.8 is a plan view of another embodiment equipped with adiiferent type carrying mechanism; and

Fig. 9 is a section on the line 9-9 of Fig. 8.

In the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive, there is provided a frame 1 having four side walls 2, 3, 4 and 5 having inwardly extending flanges 6 to form supports for the feet 7. To the 10 side walls 2 and 3 of the frame-1, by means of l the lugs 8, there is fixedly secured the main plate 9. r

. On the main'plate 9, near its front side, and extending upwardly therefrom, there is secured the screw 10 on which is slidably mounted the cylindrical shell 11 having an annular slot 12 therein. The cylindrical shell 11 is provided with a longitudinally extending slot 13 to accommodate the type selecting bar 14, see Figs. 0 1 and 2. On the upper end of the shell 11, there is fixed the type carrying mechanism includin the segment 15 having at its periphery a row of upper case type 16 and a row of lower case type 17. The segment 15 is also provided with a slot 18 forming the extension of the slot 13 aforesaid through the shell 11 to accommodate the bar 14. The front end of the bar 14 is provided with a key 19 and the rear end of the bar 14 is bent upwardly at 20 and terminates at its free end in the laterally extending stop projections 21 which cooperate mainly with the sides of the shell 11 to limit the forward movement of the bar 14, while the key 19 limits the rearward movement of the bar 14 therebyto anchor this bar 14 against accidental removal.

The shell 11 is rotatably mounted on the screw 10 and there with the segment 15 and bar 14, the bar 14 and key 19 being provided to actuate the segment 15 according to the type to be selected.

For positioning the segment 15 to permit the printing of the upper case type 16, there is provided the fork 22 having its bifurcated ends 1 curled downwardly to form the loops 23, see Fig. 2, and extending into the annular recess 12 ofthe shell 11. The rear end of the fork 22 is fixed to the shaft 24 journaled to the lugs 129 adjacent the key board supporting bars 25 and 26.

Also fixed to the shaft 24 and extending forwardly thereof are the shift key supporting arms 27 and 28 on the forward upper ends of which are formed the keys 29 and 30 respectively.

The paper supporting platen 31 and the key b a di 3 are mounted to rock with one another about the axis of the stub shafts 33. The shafts 33 are journaled in the ears 34 extending upwardly from the plate 9 at the sides thereof adjacent the rear'end of such plate 9.

The rear ends of the key board supporting bars 25 and 26 are fixed to the shafts 33 and the front upper edges thereof have preferably formed thereon the key board 32. Disposed between the arms 25 and 26, and as forming a part of the shaft 33, there is provided the casting 35 which has a plurality of pairs of upwardly extending fingers 36 and 37. The spaces between the fingers 36 and. 37 are in alinement with one another to form'a guideway for the bar 38.

The bar 38, see Fig. 3, is provided with a slot 39 and the upper portion 40 provided with ratchet teeth 41 formed on the upper rear face thereof. The ends of thebar 38 are provided with upwardly extending supporting arms 42 to receive the shaft 43 of the platen 31. The platen 31 and shaft 43 are of course rotatably mounted in the arms 42. Preferably the shaft 43 is fixed to theplaten 31 so that the shaft 43 will rotate with the platen 31 and the ends of the shaft 43 are provided with the knurled finger engaging knobs 44 and 45. Preferably the arms 42 are provided with extensions 46 extending upwardly and rearwardly from the platen 31 to support the paper guiding plate 47. On one end of the shaft 43 adjacent the side bar 3, there is fixed a toothed gear 48 to cooperate with the head 49 of the spring detent 50 secured to and extending upwardly from the arm 42 adjacent thereto.

To anchor the platen 31 and supporting bar 38 against accidental displacement, the casting 35 is provided with two centrally disposed enlarged extensions 51 and 52. The space between the extensions 51 and 52 is similarly alined with the spaces between the extensions 36 and 37 to permit the lower portion of the arm 38 to slide therein. The upper ends of the extensions 51 and 52 register with the slot 39 formed in the bar 38 and have secured thereto the screw 53 extending through the slot'39 and cooperating with the bar 38 at theends of the slot to limit the lateral displacement of the platen 31 and bar 38.

The key board 32 is normally maintained in raised position and the platen 31 in rearward position away from the type16 or 17. This normal inoperative position is determined by the heads 54 and 55 formed at the upper ends of the rods 56 secured at their lower ends adjacent the sides of the front end of the plate 9. The rods 56 extend up through the key board plate 32 with the heads 54 and 55 disposed above the level of the upper surface of the key board 32. The lower faces of the heads 54 and 55 are adapted to be engaged by the cushions 154 and 155 so that when the key board 32 returns to normal position, it will be substantially noiseless.

To normally maintain the upper face ofthe key board 32 in engagement with the lower faces of the heads 54 and 55 and thereby likewise determine the position of the platen 31 away from the type 16, 17, there is provided the flat spring 57, see Figs. 1 and 2, which is preferably secure to the upper face of the base plate 9.

The casting 35, see Fig. 1, preferably has a forward extension 59 to which is secured the arm 60 having an enlarged flat portion 61 at its forward end to engage the upper face of the spring 57, see Figs. 1 and 2.

The key board plate 32 in this embodiment is provided with .a plurality of d press ons t9 define the positions of the numerals and letters of the universal key board in use today. The depressions 62 constituting the upper row in the present instance are marked to correspond with the upper row of keys of the universal key board. The depressions 63 of the" second row are marked to correspond with the second row of keys of the universal key board. Similarly the depressions 64 of the third row and the depressions 65 of the fourth row are marked to correspond with the keys of the third and fourth rows respectively of the universal key board.

In place of the space key, the key board 32 is provided with an extension 66 at its front end conformed to resemble the shape of the spacing bar of the universal key board and it is provided with a plurality of depressions 67.

The depressions 62, 63, 64 and 65 have been predetermined in their particular row to cooperate with the key 19 to position the type corresponding to the marking on the depression. Although the depressions succeed one another in the same order in whichthey appear with respect to their markings on the universal key board, it has been found desirable with this key board not to space all of the depressions equal distances apart.

The depressions 67 on the spacing key extension 66 correspond to the recesses 68 in the periphery of the segment 15 so that when the key 19 is brought down to register with a depression 67, it will position the segment 15 with a recess 68 registering with the impression marking and in this case merely cause the spacing mechanism to be operated without any printing operation taking place.

In order to accurately locate the segment 15 relative to the impression or space selected, the extension 52 is provided with a tapered nose 69 to cooperate with the V slots 70 formed in the apron 71 extending down from the periphery of the type segment 15.

In order to effect the step by step advance of the platen simultaneously with the return of the.

platen and therewith of the bar 38, a succeeding tooth 41 is engaged by the pawl 72 formed at the upper end of a bell crank 73 pivotally mounted on the. ear 74 extending upwardly from the base plate 9. The laterally extending leg of the bell crank 73 cooperates with the projection 75 at the upper end of the'finger 76 extending upwardly from the base plate 9 to limit the movement of the pawl 72 relative to the teeth 41 when the platen is actuated into printing position.

The spring 77 is provided connecting the arm 78 of the bell crank 73v with the abutment 79 on the casting 35 to rock the bell crank 73 away from the teeth 41 into position to engage the succeeding tooth. The extension 51 is provided with a pin 81 preferably covered with a rubber coating 82 or the like to engage the upper edge of the arm 80 when the casting 35 is returned to normal position after an impression producing action at which time it will by thus engaging the arm 80 positively actuate the bell crank 73 to engage the teeth 41 and cooperate with the same to advance the bar 38 and thereby the platen 31 one tooth at a time.

When the impression mark is obtained by interposing an inked ribbon between the paper or thelike and the type, an arrangement such as here illustrated may be used to advantage in which the ribbon 83 is fed from the spool 84 to the spool 85. mounted on the diminished end of the post 86 The spool 84 is rotatably extending from the plate 9 which spool is secured to the post 86 by the thumb screw 87 while the spool 85 is' secured to the post 88 which is rotatably mounted on the plate 9.

To brace the post 88, there is provided the bracket 90 secured to the plate 9 and extending up to form a bearing for the upper portion of the post 88'. The spool 85 is fixed to rotate with the post 88being mounted on the upper diminished end 91 of such post, to the upper end of which diminished end 91, there is screw threadedly connected the thumb screw 92. The ribbon 83 in the present instance is intended to be advanced from the spool 84 to the spool 85,'the ratchet wheel 93 being secured to the lower end of the post 88. The flat spring 94 secured at one end to the bracket 90 engages the teeth 95 of the ratchet wheel 93 to serve as a holding pawl and the flat spring 96 secured to and extending down from the casting is actuated with thecasting 35 to engage the teeth 95 and advance the ratchet wheel 93 one tooth space at a time upon the return movement of the casting 35 when returned for a bank of keys, see the enlarged development Y 98 and in imitation of the cover for large typewriter ribbons, see the developments 99.

The key 19 preferably consists of a cylindrical button 100 provided with a longitudinally extending slot to receive the end of the bar 14 which is pivotally connected to the button by the pin 101 so that the button 100 may be free to assume a substantially vertical position whetherengaging a depression 62 in the upper row of depressions or a depression in any of the other rows of depressions.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 6 and 7, the key board 102 is provided with a plurality of raised crowns 103 having depressions 104 more nearly to resemble the formation of the keys of a universal key board typewriter.

On the other hand, if it is desired to construct the present typewriter for a foreign language, it is only necessary to substitute another segment for the segment 15 provided with foreign characters and to substitute for the key board 32 another key board having foreign character nota- Fig. 1 to substitute another type segment butretain the standard universal key board, in which latter case the typist in typing the message would select the type markings of the umversal key board when the corresponding code markings would be impressed.

' In turn should it be desired to use this typewriter to decode a coded message, it would only be necessary to substitute another key board with the corresponding code characters but retain the standard type on the segment.

The embodiment illustrated in Figs. 8'and 9 wardly from the plate 111. Preferably between the lower wall of the drum 107 and the crosspiece 109, there is provided the small gear 112 fixed to the pin 108 in mesh with the teeth of the segment 113, the radius of which'segment 113 relative to the radius of the gear 112 is such that one sweep of the segment 113 from end to end will cause the gear 112 and therewith the drum 107 to describe a complete circle. The segment 113 is fixed to the upper end of the cylindrical shell extending upwardly from the plate 111.

' The shell 114 is provided with two alined openings 116 and 117. By means of the alined pins 118, the fork 119 of thecylindrical arm 120 is pivotally connected to the shell 114. Slidably mounted in the arm 120 is provided the cylindrical arm 121 which has a collar 122 of greater outside diameter than the inside diameter of the arm 120 and of lessoutside diameter than that of the openings 116 and 117 so thatit may pass through the openings 116 and 117 as shown in Fig. 9-but be limited in its outward movement by the edge of the arm 120.

The arm 121 is preferably provided with a slot 130 to receive the pin 131 of the cylindrical arm 132 which in turn is provided with the slot 123 to receive the pin 124 of the bar 125, to the outer front free end of which is secured the key 126. The arms 120, I21 and 132 and bar 125 thus constitute a telescoped arm forthe key 126 to facilitate locating the key 126 on any one of the character designating depressions 127 of the key board 128. The depressions 127-inthe'present instance are equal in number to the depressions 62 to 65 inclusive of the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 1.

and are similarly positioned to correspond to the position of the keys on the universal keyboard but are differently spaced from one another in some instances. This spacing however is immaterial depending entirely upon the position of the type on the type drum 107. I

It is obvious that various changes and modifications may be made to thedetails of construction without departing from the general spirit of I claim:

1. The combination with a main frame, of a secondary frame pivotally connected on a horizontal axis to said main frame, a plate constituting a keyboard having a pluralityof character designating areas disposed in parallel straight rows corresponding in number and position to the keys of a universal keyboard at one end of said secondary frame, a paper support carried by the other end of said secondary frame to move therewith, a shaft mounted to extend vertically upward from said main frame, an arcuate type carrier having aplurality of type formed thereon and including a sleeve mounted onsaid shaft, and a type selector slidably and oscillatably engagedwith said sleeve and guided by said ke'yboard to select the type desired, the actuation of said selector about its horizontal axis in a 'downward direction effecting the actuation of said keythe invention as set forth in the appended claims.

20 114 which is slidably mounted on the post board and thereby the actuation of said paper support into engagement with the type selected to form an impression.

2. In a typewriter, a main frame, a secondary frame pivotally mounted transversely of the main frame and having a platen carried by one end to move therewith and a plate constituting a keyboard carried by its other end, said keyboard having character indicia arranged thereon, a shaft extending upwardly from the main frame intermediate the ends of the secondary frame, a sleeve rotatably mounted on said shaft and. extending thereabove, the portion of the sleeve above the shaft being diametrically slotted, a type positioning segment fixed to the upper end of said sleeve and having an arcuate face concentric with the shaft and confronting said platen, a series of spaced type supported to travel in an arcuate path in accordance with the motion of the type positioning segment to bring a selected type in opposition to said platen, and an actuating member mounted in said slot for oscillation with said sleeve about the axis of the shaft and having a type selector on its forward end movable toward and from said shaft for positioning over a selected unit of the type indicia to engage and depress the keyboard and thereby tilt the secondary frame and urge the platen toward the selected type.

3. In a typewriter, a main frame, a secondary frame pivotally mounted transversely of the main frame and having a platen at one end and a plate constituting a keyboard at its other end, said keyboard having character indicia arranged thereon, a shaft extending upwardly from the main frame intermediate the ends of the secondary frame, a sleeve rotatably mounted on said shaft and extending thereabove, the portion .of the sleeve above the shaft being diametrically slotted, a type segment fixed to the upper endof said sleeve and having an arcuate face concentric with the shaft and confronting said platen, said arcuate face heing provided with printing type, and an actuating member mounted in said slot for oscillation with said sleeve about the axis of the shaft and having a type selector on its forward end, said actuating member being slidable longitudinally through the slot.

4, In a typewriter, a main frame, a secondary frame pivotally mounted transversely of the main frame and having a platen at one end and a plate constituting a keyboard at its other end, said keyboard having character indicia arranged thereon, a shaft extending upwardly from the main frame intermediate the ends of the secondary frame, a sleeve rotatably mounted on said shaft and extending thereabove, the portion of the sleeve above the shaft being diametrically slotted, a type positioning segment fixed to the upper end of said sleeve and having an arcuate face concentric with the shaft and confronting said platen, a type carrier actuated by said segment and printing type on said type carrier selectably positionable to, confront said platen, and an actuating member mounted in said slot for oscillation with said sleeve about the axis of the shaft and having a type selector on its forward end, said actuating member including a yoke pivoted to the sleeve and a bar telescopically mounted in said yoke.

5. In a typewriter, a main frame, a secondary frame pivotally mounted transversely of the main frame and having a platen at one end and a plate constituting a keyboard at its other end, said keyboard having character indicia arranged thereon, a shaft extending upwardly from the main frame intermediate the ends of the secondary frame, a sleeve rotatably mounted on said shaft and extending thereabove, the portion of the sleeve above the shaft being diametrically slotted, a type segment fixed to the upper end of said sleeve and having an arcuate face concentric with the shaft and confronting said platen, said arcuate face being provided with printing type, an actuating member mounted in said slot for oscillation with said sleeve about the axis of the shaft and having a type selector on its forward end movable toward and from said shaft for positioning over a selected unit of the type indicia to engage and depress the keyboard and thereby tilt the secondary frame and urge the platen toward the type segment, said sleeve being movable longitudinally of the shaft to displace the type segment vertically, said type segment having two rows of type thereon, and means to vertically shift said sleeve.

6. In a typewriter, a main frame, a secondary frame pivotally mounted transversely of the main frame and having a platen at one end and a plate constituting a keyboard at its other end, said keyboard having character indicia arranged thereon, a shaft extending upwardly from the main frame intermediate the ends of the sec ondary frame, a sleeve rotatably mounted on said shaft and extending thereabove, the portion of the sleeve above the shaft being diametrically slotted, a type segment fixed to the upper end of said sleeve and having an arcuate face concentric with the shaft and confronting said platen, said arcuate face being provided with printing type, an actuating member mounted in said slot for oscillation with said sleeve about the axis of the shaft and having a type selector on its forward end, said actuating member being slidable longitudinally through the slot, said sleeve being movable longitudinally of the shaft to displace the type segment vertically, said type segment having two rows of type thereon, and means to vertically shift said sleeve.

'7. In a typewriter, a main frame, a secondary frame pivotally mounted transversely of the main frame and having a platen at one end and a plate constituting a keyboard at its other end, said keyboard having character indicia arranged thereon, a shaft extending upwardly from the main frame intermediate the ends of the secondary frame, a sleeve rotatably mounted on said shaft and extending thereabove, the portion of the sleeve above the shaft being diametrically slotted, a type positioning segment fixed to the upper end of said sleeve and having an arcuate face concentric with the shaft and confronting said platen, a type carrier actuated by said segment and provided with printing type selectably positionable to confront said platen, an actuating member mounted in said slot for oscillation with said sleeve about the axis of the shaft and having on its forward end,- said actuating member including a yoke pivoted to the sleeve and a bar telescopically mounted in said yoke, said sleeve being movable longitudinally of the shaft to displace the type segment vertically, said type segment having two rows of type thereon, and means to vertically shift said sleeve.

- HARRY BATES. 

